AIMA office in Porto one of many leaving immigrants waiting endlessly for papers
Portuguese police had to intervene today when an ‘anti-immigration activist’ upset dozens of immigrants trying to hold a peaceful protest outside AIMA offices in Porto.
The man, allegedly belonging to the right wing Reconquista Movement, started chanting anti-immigrant slogans over a megaphone, which led to clashes with some of the demonstrators.
Reports described “moments of great tension” which the police were able to control by removing the man through a safety barrier.
The demonstration was thus left to continue, reminding everyone that the delays at AIMA in dealing with legalisation papers have not gone away. Immigrants backed by associations of solidarity shouted: “Documents for all, all, all” and “We are immigrants, not criminals”.
Speaking to journalists, one of the organisers of the demonstration, Timóteo Macedo said: “ These are people who are here to work and we demand that this government respect those who work, those who are here, those who live in our society.”
Macedo considered that the government’s recent changes to immigration policies “has only benefited the mafias, slave labour and human trafficking”, suggesting that the so-called ‘fast lane’ for immigration “is nothing more than facilitating big business, which won’t work”.
Immigrants, and the associations helping them, hold frequent demonstrations pushing for the same reversals in policy – which no political party at the moment seems willing to entertain. The last demonstration of this kind was in Lisbon two weeks ago.
Source material: Lusa/ SIC Notícias
